National Adoption day

Hennepin County held a celebration on November 19th for National Adoption Day. 21 children now have new homes. The need for adoptive families is still great. Consider adoption and give a child a permanent home and a forever family.

Hennepin County Internships

Apply for one of our many internships. Our interns receive work experience, professional development and networking opportunities. We are currently seeking interns for the following areas: corrections, law enforcement, public health and the library.

Hennepin County to give cities incentive to start organics recycling

Photo credit: David Joles

Via the Star Tribune, Kelly Smith:

Hennepin County wants cities to start curbside organics recycling, and it’s planning to pay more to those that do next year.

It’s part of a shift in recycling across the country to focus more on organics, or food waste. Hennepin County’s own move toward organics is part of a gradual increase in funding that the county envisions, aiming for half of recycling dollars to go toward it by 2020.

“It sets the tone,” said Ben Knudson, a Hennepin County recycling specialist. “It will get the attention of cities.”

I hope you are enjoying my electronic newsletters, and find them interesting and informative about county activities. In addition to my monthly newsletter, the county sends various
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Please feel free to send me your comments through my feedback form on issues that concern you or you would like covered. I value your opinions.

Warm regards,

Jan Callison

Board meetings

November 1, 2016

Special levies will fund watershed projects

The board set a special levy to support projects in four
watershed management organizations: Bassett Creek, Shingle Creek, West
Mississippi and Elm Creek. The special levy is separate from the general property
tax levy, which is set to be approved next month.

Projects include:

Bassett Creek: $1.3 million for three water quality improvement
projects, improving water quality and stream habitat of Bassett and
Plymouth Creeks within the cities of Minneapolis and Plymouth, and
reducing phosphorus loading into Northwood Lake in New Hope.

Shingle Creek: $363,600 for three storm water retrofit projects and
a diverted streamflow treatment project in the cities of Crystal,
Minneapolis, and Robbinsdale, and to support a best management practices
(BMP) program.

West Mississippi: $131,300 to complete a storm water retrofit project
in Champlin and support a BMP cost-share program, which will implement
small water quality projects throughout the watershed to protect and
improve the quality of water resources.

Elm Creek: $492,812 for five water quality improvement projects
including stream bank/shoreline restoration along Rush Creek in Maple
Grove, Fox Creek in Rogers and the Mississippi River at the Elm Creek Dam
in Champlin, repair of storm water outfalls along the Mississippi River in
Champlin, and in-lake water treatment to reduce phosphorus at Fish Lake in
Maple Grove.

The board approved an amendment to County Ordinance 21 that will
apply all county tobacco regulations to electronic tobacco and tobacco-related
products, such as e-cigarette. The
measure will allow the ordinance to adapt in the future to new tobacco
products. This change
puts Hennepin County in line with new state regulations and wording meant to
better control use of tobacco products. It will also allow the board to delegate licensing of tobacco
retailers to the Hennepin County Public Health Department.

November 15, 2016

Federal program helps offenders with mental illness

The board agreed to sign on to the White House Data-Driven
Justice Initiative, which aims to keep low-risk offenders out of jail to help
them become productive members of our community.

This initiative will further efforts to consider
offenders’ mental health. Nationwide, 64 percent of all people in jail have a
mental illness, and the county jail may not be best suited to treat and support
those individuals.

Hennepin County committed to reduce unnecessary detention for
low-risk offenders and identify appropriate alternatives for those with mental
illnesses in our county jail by:

Identifying appropriate
alternatives for the mentally ill, including diversion programs and
initiatives to support high utilizers

Developing new strategies for
probation noncompliance

Reducing bench warrants for
people who do not appear for court

Eliminating delays in the legal
process

Ensuring that decisions to
detain or release are based on validated risk assessment tools

Identifying opportunities to
responsibly share information to improve coordination of services across
systems

The board approved an agreement with the Metropolitan Council to
fund infrastructure and environmental investments that will improve communities
on the Southwest Light Rail line: St. Louis Park, Hopkins, Minnetonka, Eden
Prairie and Minneapolis.

The vote confirms action the board took in July 2015 to approve
$8 million in local matching funds for the project. Infrastructure costs of as
much as $3 million will improve plaza infrastructure items, such as benches,
lighting, and bike racks, as well as community connectivity. The Environmental
Response Fund will provide as much as $5 million to assess and clean up
contamination exposed during construction at the Hopkins Tech Center site,
Louisiana Station Area and the Hopkins Operations and Maintenance Facility site.

November 29, 2016

Funding increased for residential organics recycling programs

Recognizing that organics recycling is the greatest opportunity to reduce our trash, the board adopted changes to the Hennepin County Residential Recycling Funding Policy to allocate more money to cities for organics recycling programs.

To support city recycling programs, Hennepin County distributes all of the funding that it receives from the state’s Select Committee on Recycling and the Environment (SCORE) fund to cities. The county distributed $3.5 million in 2016.

The new funding policy will continue to fund city recycling programs, but will gradually shift more funds to support organics recycling. In 2017, 20 percent of funding will be allocated to organics recycling programs. By 2020, half of the SCORE funding will be dedicated to supporting organics recycling. Organic waste, including food and compostable paper, makes up about one-quarter of residential trash. So increasing organics recycling is the best opportunity to reduce waste and increase recycling.

East 46th Street Bridge replacement plans move forward

The board approved funding to replace the East 46th Street Bridge over Godfrey Parkway in Minneapolis, at a proposed county cost of $3.6 million. The bridge must be replaced because it is structurally deficient and has a sufficiency rating of 33. The county’s goal is to replace or improve all county owned bridges on county roads that are below a sufficiency rating of 50. Replacement of this bridge has been included in the capital budget at an estimated cost of $4.6 million, which includes $1 million in state bridge bonds and the remainder in state aid (gas tax) funds.

Three Rivers Park District budget approved

The board approved the Three Rivers Park District’s 2017 budget with a total property tax levy of $41.5 million, which is a slight decrease from last year.

Parks and trails in the district’s purview have seen a 3.4 percent increase in use in the past year, which is in contrast to the 1.3 percent decrease in parks and trail usage in the metro area on the whole.

Board briefings

In addition to our regularly scheduled board meetings, the board
often meets on Thursday mornings to receive board briefings. These are
informal opportunities to discuss emerging issues. No decisions are
made. Board briefings occur in the board room on the 24th floor of the
Hennepin County Government Center and are open to the public.

November 1, 2016

Legislative Platform

County
staff reviewed the process of developing the county’s legislative platform and
proposed options in order to facilitate county board input.

November 10, 2016

Child Protection

The
purpose of this briefing was to discuss Hennepin County’s child protection
system including the presentation of final recommendations from the Child
Protection Oversight Committee.Staff
reviewed changes already made to Hennepin County’s child protection system such
as the addition of 24/7 screening and investigation services, implementation of
new DHS screening guidelines, hiring of additional workers and modifications to
workspace.They reviewed the current
volume of work which has dramatically increased (child protection reports are
projected to increase 96% since 2009; investigations have increased 74% since
2014; and out-of-home placements are up 65% since 2014) and the need for
additional workers in order to handle the growing workload.Among the additional changes being proposed
by staff are more focus on child well-being as well as on prevention and early
intervention.Staff estimates that the
cost of implementing their recommendations over the next three years will be
approximately $26M.

County calendar

Upcoming 2017 budget dates

The
board will decide on the 2017 budget and tax levy at 1:30 p.m. on December 13. Meetings are held on the 24th floor of the Hennepin County
Government Center, 300 South 6th Street, Minneapolis.

Fix-It Clinics

Get free, guided assistance from handy volunteers on
disassembling, troubleshooting and repairing small household appliances,
clothing, electronics, mobile devices and more at a Fix-It Clinic. Upcoming Fix-It Clinics are
scheduled for the following dates and locations:

Sunday,
December 11 from noon to 4 p.m. at the Grace Center for Community Life in
northeast Minneapolis

Saturday,
January 14 from noon to 4 p.m. at the Ridgedale Library in Minnetonka

Hennepin County to give cities incentive to start organics recycling

Photo credit: David Joles

Via the Star Tribune, Kelly Smith:

Hennepin County wants cities to start curbside organics recycling, and it’s planning to pay more to those that do next year.

It’s part of a shift in recycling across the country to focus more on organics, or food waste. Hennepin County’s own move toward organics is part of a gradual increase in funding that the county envisions, aiming for half of recycling dollars to go toward it by 2020.

“It sets the tone,” said Ben Knudson, a Hennepin County recycling specialist. “It will get the attention of cities.”

The state allocates recycling money to counties for distribution to cities, which can use the money to provide discounts to residents, buy compostable bags or other items or to help pay for city contracts. This year, $3.2 million of the county’s $3.5 million in recycling funds went toward cities’ recycling programs, while $300,000 went toward organics recycling.